First Meeting
by Nonokohime
Summary: How must Piers have felt upon meeting his idolized captain after a search of 6 months and finding that he cannot remember him at all?


Note: I'm really new here. This is my first fanfiction in English and I am *not* a native! I hope you enjoy my simple English anyway.

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For the last 6 months I have been searching for this man, and now I'm sitting next to him, only an empty barstool between us. I never would have thought I would find him in this condition, especially not in a run-down bar in Edonia. I'm not keeping count of how often he has had his glass refilled but he's definitely had enough. Next to him, an overflowing ashtray. I hope that he didn't fill it all by himself.

Since I began the search for him I played though a scenario like this over and over again. Everytime it was different. A different place, a different situation but the outcome was always the same: that he'd go home with me, to the B.S.A.A., where he belongs.  
I order a steak. How should I begin the conversation? It was hard to conceive of a start.  
"Another round!", I hear Chris saying. His behavior irritates me. I can't concentrate, there are too many different thoughts in my head. But there is one that consumes all the others: Why is he ignoring me? He acts like he doesn't even know me! It is impossible for him to not remember me. We were together in the Alpha Team till... There was so much we went through.

The bartender serves me my steak. I shake my head to get rid of any disturbing thoughts and focus on the important thing: My mission. I cut one slice of my steak and taste it. It is pretty good, but I've had better. Now I know how to strike up a conversation.  
"Hard to find a good steak around here," I say looking at him."Not like back home." I want to tease him. He grimaces and averts his eyes. He looks irritated. The bartender fills his glass, but not completely. He stares at the glass. "Fill her up." He looks her straight in the eye. "You've had enough", she responds coldly. She should be used to that kind of guy but this guy is not one of them… usually. He sighs. "Listen, sweetheart." He plants himself in front of her and grabs the bottle which she had been holding. "You're here to pour drinks and look pretty, so how about you shut your mouth?" Ouch, that's rude! I suppress a grin. He always was unfriendly when he was drunk.  
He fills his glass to the brim, but she takes it and spills it in his face. "How about you get the hell out of my bar?" Well, how could she have reacted differently? What is he going to do now? I look at him with a serious expression. He can't just walk out of the bar now! I have been waiting for this moment for too long. I have to stop him! There will never be a better chance than this one.

He stands up without minding me, holding the bottle in his hand. "Nowhere to go." That's NOT true! Should I interfere? I examine his steps. "The lady asked you to leave," says a man in Russian and blocks his way. Chris stands for a little while, then passes him, but not without ramming him with his shoulder. The man turns around and lays his hand on Chris' right shoulder. "I said she asked you to leave." This time he says it in English. Chris grabs his arm and flings him on the table next to them. I have to react, now! Chris raises his arm willing to smash his opponent's head with the bottle.

I grab his arm. Immediately he turns his head in my direction, his face filled with anger. I shake my head. "Never thought I'd find Chris Redfield wasting away in a shithole like this." He breaks away and stumbles back. He'd definitely drunk too much. "Who the hell are you?" He goes around the table, slumps onto the chair. I sit down, opposite to him. "Piers..." The conversation I was looking for for so long has begun, but it's not like even one of all the stories I have imagined before.  
"Piers Nivans." I look him straight in the eye. "Never heard o' ya." He avoids me, again. How couldn't he remember me? I get my cell phone out of my pocket. "How about this?" I open a photo gallery showing the burning city and face it towards him. "You heard of this?" He just peeks for a second. "What is that?" He grimaces. "You really don't remember anything, do you?" "Bioterrorism." "Bio..." He holds his head as if he were in pain, but it doesn't last long. Probably he just has a headache from the alcohol.  
"You can't hide from your past, Chris, no matter where you go or what you do." He looks confused. "Who are you?" I never saw him in such a bad condition. The alcohol isn't the only thing to blame for this behavior. "What is this?" I lean back in the chair. "OK... You don't remember me? Well, how about them?" I rush forward to him and show him the files of our lost Alpha Team mates, one of them is Finn. He doesn't look. "Look!" I can barely hold myself back. He looks in a different direction, still avoiding the cell phone. I jump up in reflex and hold the display straight into his face. "I said look! Those were your men! Men who died under your command! You owe it to them to remember, Chris. If you walk away now then this was all for nothing!"

He repels my arm with a force I can barely stand up to. "Enough!" His voice filled with rage and anger. He seems to have a headache again, or is it not a headache? I drop back down in the chair. "Dammit. Six months of searching for you and this is what I find?" I hit a bottle, it falls off the table and shatters on the floor. He is just sitting there looking down on the ground. I boil with rage. How is it possible that he lost his memory and forgot about us!  
"B.S.A.A.…" He looks at me. I face him, surprised to hear that in a moment like this, and lean forward in his direction. "Yeah." I look him in the eyes. "It's where you belong. Everyone's waiting." "Everyone?" he repeats confused. I make the signal so everyone in the bar is standing up, just as planned. "We're taking you back, Captain. One way or another."

He stands up and leaves the bar, together with the others, silent. I stand up, but choose not to go with them. Instead, I sit down on the same barstool as before and cut another slice of my steak. It is cold. "Shall I bring you a new one?" the bartender asks and bends down in front of me. "No, it's okay." I cut another slice.  
When I heard that Chris escaped from the hospital, I was shocked. I never thought he would do something like that, not him, not our captain. Filled with anger, I signed up for the search mission to find him.

When I searched for him, I tried to come up with a reason for his escape, but I couldn't think about one, it just didn't make sense, just like I never thought he would forget about us. We have to check him into the hospital before we go on as usual.  
To see him in this condition makes me feel insecure. He always knew the right thing to do, always controlled. But now he is confused and has fallen off his original behavior pattern. This makes me feel… weak. Will he remember the times we spent together? The bad ones, and the good ones?


End file.
